Sewing- machine needles



3 Sheets-Sneet 1.

(No Model.)

W. H. DAYTON.

' MACHINE FOR MAKING SEWING MACHINE NEEDLES.

Patented Aug.v 9, 1881.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sh'eet 2.-

W. H. DAYTON. 5 V

MACHINE FOR MAKING SEWING MACHINE NEEDLES. No. 245,355. Patented Aug. 9,1881.

3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.)

' W. H, DAYTON.

MACHINE FOR MAKING SEWING MACHINE NEEDLES.

Patented Aug. 9, 1881.

Mam

Uivrrn STATES ATENT Farce.

WILLIAM H. DAYTON, OF TORRINGTON, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO EXCELSIOR NEEDLE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

MACHINE FOR MAKINGISEWING-MACHINE NEEDLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 245,355, dated August 9, 1881.

Application filed May 31, 1881.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM H. DAYTON, of Torringtomin the State ofConnecticut, have invented an Improvement in Machines for Making Sewing-MachineNeedles, of which the following is a specification.

After the sewing-machine-needle blank has been reduced to the proper size and the eye formed it is usual, to dress or grind off the shank at one side, either to flatten said shank throughout its entire length or else to form a shoulder that determines the distance that the needle is inserted into its socket and the direction of the eye to the other parts of the sewing-maohine.

My presentinvention is for holding the needle and slabbin g or dressing off its shank previous to the last finishing or polishing operation. To effect this object I provide a needleholding table with pins that passinto the needle-eyes, and grooved supports for the shank, a revolving milling-tool or emery-wheel, and means for clamping the needle-shank, and means for revolving the bed progressively to bring one needle after the other around into position to be operated upon by the mill or grinder.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan of the machine. Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section at the line 00 m. Fig. 3 is a plan of the parts below the bed. Fig. 4 shows the automatic clamp for holding the needle, the same being in larger size than the other figures, and the clamp is shown as just commencing to hold the needle-shank. Fig. 5 is a similar view of the same parts, showing the automatic clamp as holding the needle while being operated upon by the cutter; and Fig. 6 represents the clamp as about to relieve the needle-shank and pass back to the position for holding the next needle. Fig. 7 is a side view of the machine, and Fig. 8 represents the grooved rest for the needle, in the form of a jaw.

The bed a is provided with a standard, 1), upon which is the milling-tool c, or revolving cutter or grinder, the same being provided with a pulley, c, to which a belt is applied to revolve the same.

The cutter can be raised or lowered and adjusted endwise ofits shaft by moving the stock (No model.)

' or carriage that supports the shaft of the milling-tool.

If the entire side of the needleshank is to be slabbed oft fiat, it is preferable to give to the cutter or grinder shaft a reciprocating endwise movement as well as a rapid revolution, so as to dress the shank oft perfectly true.

The revolving needle holder is made of a circular table, 6, upon a vertical shaft, that passes through the bed a, and is moved as hereinafter set forth. The needles h are placed radially to the table 6, and there is a circular range of points, It, to pass into the needle-eyes as they are laid in the machine with their shanks resting in the groovesof the supports it. The needles are put on and taken off by hand, and the bed is moved around progressively by a rapid movement that brings one needle around ready for the cutter to act upon it, then the bed is moved slowly while the needle passes beneath the revolving cutter, then the bed is again moved rapidly another step to removethe needle and simultaneously bring into position the next needle.

I make use of two wheels, l and m, upon the shaft of the table 6. The wheel lis loose thereon, and it is revolved continuously with a slow movement by the revolving shaft and wormpinion l. The other wheel,m, is permanently fixed to the shaft of the bed 6, and it has two ranges of teeth of different sizes, or it may be a two-part wheel, the upper one having a range of teeth that correspond in numbers to the needles that the table is adapted to hold, and there are two pawls on the wheel Z taking against the lower range of teeth, which are fine. The revolution of the wornrpinion and wheel I would move the bed around gradually, and the speed of movement is such that the milling or grinding tool will'aet properly upon the needle-shanks as they are passed beneath such milling-tool; but considerable time would be lostif this movement alone were employed. I therefore move the parts in such a manner that as soon as one milling operation has been performed the table is turned rapidly to bring the nextneedle near to the milling-tool, and then I allow the slow movement of the worm to carry the needle'blank under the millingtool, and so on. This is accomplished by the slide n and pawl 0, which, being brought into action at the proper time, turn the wheel "In and bed 0 upon the wheel I, the pawls 0 allowing of this movement. The slidebar n is in guides at the under side of the bed, and to it the spring-pawl 0 is pivoted. There is a cam, q, upon the gear-wheelp, that acts against a roller or projection on the slide it, to move it endwise at the proper time to rotate the needle-holder e. The wheel 1) and cam q are rotated by the shaft q and a bevel-pinion, and the spring 4 returns the slide a after the cam separates from it.

To hold the shanks of the needles into the grooved blocks t, I sometimes make those blocks in two parts, the one part, 5, being stationary, and the other part, 6, movable and forming a hingedjaw, like a pair of pinchers, the lower end of this jaw sliding over a stationary cam-surface to close thejaw and hold the needle-shank while the side of the shank is being slabbed or ground off. I have represented this device in Fig. 8; but in Figs. 4, 5, and 6 I have shown another form of clamping device, which consists in a swinging fin ger, 1', hinged at the top to the yielding pivot 7, the lowerend resting upon the clamp block 8, which latter is made with an offset to press upon the needle-shank. The finger r is acted upon by a spring, 7", to moveit and the clampbloek 8 toward the side of the machine from which the needle approaches the cutter, and the parts are adjusted so that as the projecting upper part of the needle comes in contact with this offset the clamp-block s and finger 1' move with the needle, and the swinging movement brings the finger almost vertical when the cutter is operating on the shank, as seen in Figs. 2 and 5, thereby holding the needle firmly. As the bed moves and carries the needle away from the cutter the clamp-block, describing the arc of a circle, is finally lifted away from the needle and separates from it, as seen in Fig.6, and the spring r swings the finger and clamp-block back to the first position, ready for the next needle as it is moved beneath it.

The clamp block s is, by preference, hinged to a loosehub upon the shaft carrying the needle-bed 2, so that it moves with the bed while the grinding or milling operations are being performed. A stop at 10 determines the position to which the spring 1' can draw back the clamp-block and finger, so that it may be in the proper position for the needle-shank to move it, as before described.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination, in a needle-machine, of a table, mechanism for revolving the same progressively, a circular range of points for the needle eyes, a grooved rest for the shank, mechanism for clamping the shank, and a rotary cutting or grinding tool, substantially as set forth. 7

' 2. The combination, with the revolving bed and rotary cutter, of the swinging finger and clamping-block having a shoulder upon its end, and the spring to return the finger and clamping-block to position to act upon and clamp the next needle-shank as it moves be heath it, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, in the needlemachine, ofa bed for holding the needles, a worm-wheel and pinion for moving the same gradually, and a ratchet-wheel and pawl for imparting a pcriodicnl rapid movement to the bed, substantially as set forth.

Signed by me this th day of May, A. D. 1881.

WVILLIAM H. DAYTON.

Witnesses (J. L. MGNEIL, GIDEoN H. WnLcn. 

